World Marathon Majors press conference
The World Marathon Majors Fall season opens with real, -Berlin on September 24 (The Running Network will be doing live coverage from there-updates during race and final analysis on www.runningnetwork.com plus atf newswire). Here are selected comments from the press conference held September 12, 2006.
---Larry Eder.

"The Marathon has moments of glory and of tragedy. We open with the latter, as Olympic champion Mizuki Noguchi fell in the bathroom, and will not be running at Berlin, " announced Marke Milde, real Berlin race director.

Comments from Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopia
"Marathon is not an easy thing . . . Berlin is a fast course, it is, you know, many athletes have run a very good time there in past many years, I am looking for something to run in Berlin. London was not that special for me. The marathon majors is a great idea, a wonderful idea, they want to do something special. I am looking to do something special like what happened at the Golden League . . . it is a wonderful idea, especially if I can do something there in Berlin, I will say much better than what I am saying now. Many big names in the field, fastest ever, we shall see, a very nice competition. I am happy to help the sport."

LE: Tell us about your level of fitness? Your training? Plans for pacing? "My training is going okay. I didn't compete in any competition after London, I have prepared well. I do not say anything about my training, I am just ready to race and will see what will happen. We have a pace maker and Sammy Korir will bring his pace maker, course itself is very fast. I do not think it will be a big problem. First, I am concerned about the win," commented Gebrselassie.

LE: What has been your most special performance?
"Of course, the competition at Sydney, in the 10,000 meters, the competition between me and Tergat, that was pretty special . . . " commented Gebrselassie.

Your writer's take on Haile G:
Haile has learned that he needs to specialize in the marathon. No runner in the world has a better pedigree in long distance running. The key is, after so many magnificent battles on the track, and so many great road races, does he still want it and most importantly, will his soleus muscles allow him to run like his heart tells him? This writer believes that there is one world breaking marathon left in him, and Berlin could be the place.

(Mark Milde, the event director of real, -Berlin, said that there will be four pace makers for the top group and pacing will be decided the day before the race.)

Carey Pinkowski, Exec Director of The LaSalle Bank Chicago
"Moving into the Fall Marathon series, we have taken a couple of turns out of the La Salle Banks course. Our top three finishers are back, plus Robert Cheriyuit, winner of Boston, and Robert Cheboro, Amsterdam winner, so we have a nice blend of champions who have performed on many stages around the world. This will be the 29th running of the marathon in Chicago."

Comments from Felix Limo, Kenya
"For me, everyone wants to be first over the finish line. We do not know who will win. It is a brain game, like London, Chicago was a brain game. Everybody is eyeing for the award. I do not put money in my mind, but I put it in my mind afterwards, we hope the best will win this jackpot. I hope to come to Chicago and prove myself," commented Felix Limo, winner of London 06 and The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon 05.

Your writer's take on Felix Limo:
Limo is the Steve Ovett of marathon running. No matter how you hammer him, he can find his kick. We used to call that reinforcing your neuromuscular loop. Limo kicks similar to a bike racer who can go from long riding to sprinting. He seems most focused near the end of the race and plays the last 2k like a magnificent chess match. I see Limo as at the top of his game now.

Mary Wittenberg, CEO of New York Runners, and ING New York City Marathon
"We are exactly where we are supposed to be with the Marathon Majors. We are poised to see the best in our sport this Fall. We have star-studded athletes in all three fields. We have announced Paul Tergat. We have announced Meb Keflizighi, Abdi Abdirahman, and a signifigant debut in Dathan Ritzenheim. We are waiting for Stefano Baldini, coming off his European Championship win, to see if he has recovered well and can run at ING NYC.

"This is the time for Deena Kastor to shine like never before. We will not make the race easy on Deena, with the returning champion, plus Catherine Ndereba of Kenya. It is now my great privilege to announce Deena Kastor will run this falls' ING New York City Marathon. Deena is America's girl right now, New York is the place for Deena to develop her legacy. Rita Jepto, winner of Boston, will also be running."

Comments by Deena Kastor, United States
"I have run Chicago twice, have run London, have run the half in Berlin and want to run Boston and Berlin some day, but now, I am focused on the ING New York City Marathon. It is nice that we have this added goal of the jackpot to work for, to see marathoning take a great hold on the world. Right now, I am in the middle stages of my training. I look forward to watching all of the races to see how this first year and see how they come out. I am focusing on ING New York. "

LE: How have you recovered from London? You raced in limited fashion on the track this summer, how was that? How was training going? Plans for ING New York so far?
"As an athlete, we have to do our homework. Knowing that the last ten miles of the ING New York marathon are taxing and hilly, I can now incorporate it into training. This past weekend I did a hilly two hour run, with a hard last hour of the run. These are the little pieces of the puzzle that you have to do to put a great performance together."

"All of us athletes appreciate the fields around a track or the fans on a marathon course, it makes it a special event. It would not be gratifying for us to break world records or Olympic medals and not have a single person on the course. We do appreciate what the media is doing and their job at glorifying our sport.

"My recovery for London was great. My plan to get on the track, which did not work for my schedule, my training was clearly not there, we had a kitchen remodel at house, which caused some confusion, and in some races, things were not coming in at all. So, I took a few weeks off, and went through therapy. Within one week, my training turned around and now I am where I need to be. I am thankful to my coach, who I listened to, and my group of experts who helped me get back on track.

"In a sport where you can go down so many different avenues, I have moved more into marathoning, it does not mean that I do not miss track and cross country. It is hard to push the other denominations of the sport, I love the training for the marathon and, the fact that 40,000 can all be on the starting line, pretty incredible," commented Deena Kastor.

Your writer's comments on Deena
Kastor is a marathon specialist; it is the evolution of her as an athlete. She is made for this race. I believe that she is a racer, rather than a pacer. Her Olympic medal taught her that. Kastor rarely makes bad moves, and she is at the top of her game. The ING New York course is a championship course, and Kastor will need all of her wiles to defeat the best women's field of the year, in my mind.

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Here is what some of the race directors had to say about the World Marathon Majors:

"We aspire to create something to elevate our five events, to connect the great events and great athletes. We have pulled from many sport, maybe a bit of Nascar, a bit of tennis, but really, the object is to create this program that promotes our sport, " commented Carey Pinkowski

"As the expert of cocktail parties-- in truth, the largest mountain to climb -- after London and Boston have happened, is the fall series of races--it needs one year to have some significance. Now (that some) runners are running the second time (in the same year), we will see how Felix and Deena do. I am delighted that my marathon is in my quiet time," noted David Bedford.

"It is all about the title. If you saw last years race or picked up the newspaper about Paul Tergat's close finish, it was talk around the office. We are sport first, of course; to (my) mind (there's) great human interest, and there's business story of out sport, however, we know that nobody can promote the sport better than the athletes!" commented Mary Wittenberg.

For a complete transcript, please go to www.worldmarathonmajors.com.

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Lessons from Norwich Union Meetings.

Norwich Union is the largest sponsor of British Athletics. As part of their sponsorship, Norwich, through Fast Track Events, sponsor the major athletics meetings in the UK. This year, I was privileged to attend the Norwich Union International Indoor, the Norwich Union London GP and the Norwich Union International.

For the American track enthusiast, there are lessons to be learned:

1. All of the meetings ran on time, literally down to the second-with live television, courtesy of BBC, there is no room for mistakes. A world record AFTER the live television ends could be a calamity.

2. The fields in all events are planned and orchestrated. I liked this. The fields included the stars of the sport, but Meet Director Ian Stewart was quite adept at including up and coming British and American athletes. "You can be sure, if an athlete is not here, then we did not choose to bring them here," noted Stewart.

3. Signage on the track shows a very healthy sport. Signage was colorful, well-produced and positioned for television, photography and other media coverage. It also ads to the entertainment nature of the event and the level of professionalism.

4. Production values are highest in sport. Fast Track had three production groups -- BBC live television, Eurosport television, and event staff -- producing what the fans saw on large screens and what was announced.

5. Announcing was top-notch. The calm, authoritative voice of Peter Matthews gave splits, updates and limited comments to the fans, who were always in the know in the stadium. Mark Richardson was on the field and his interviews with athletes drew the fans in, which adds to the entertainment value of the event.

At Norwich Union International, Fast Track had to compete against Premier League opening, several meets in Europe and the athletics club championships as well! The crowd was the first I have seen in UK not sold out, but it was enthusiastic. They loved the meet!

The USA versus Great Britain versus Russia versus China was a huge success and while the US team was a nice combination of up and comers and stars, the Russians did not take anything for granted and brought in sixteen of their European championships medalists! Isinbayeva in the pole vault was superb, and Wallace Spearmon ran well in the 200 meters, but the event that got to me was the mens' 3,000 meters.

Bernard Lagat, new US citizen, was running in his new country's colors for the first time. What kept ringing in my head was what Ian Stewart had told me the night before, quite seriously, that there was nothing more important in sport than representing your country and wearing its colors.

Lagat and new European silver medalist Mo Farah duked it out over 3k with Lagat taking the win, in a good race that was appreciated by the knowledgeable crowd. Afterwards, Bernard and Mo jogged a lap together, and showed, by their example, what events like this are all about!

The other memory I will have of the meet is how fast Alyson Felix ran her curve in the 200 meters. Perfectly poised, she ran away from Sonya Richards, which just does not happen. Felix is back in form and clearly the best two hundred meter sprinter running today, period.

Gabe Jennings continued his return, winning the Elmsley Carr Mile, one of the most famous mile races in the UK. Past winners include Sir Roger Bannister, and Gordon Pirie, Seb Coe, Steve Ovett, Haile Gebrselassie, Kenenisa Bekele and the Stewart brothers ( Ian and Peter both won and also went 1-2). In its 54th year, the mile was named after Mr. Carr, former publisher of the News of the World, who promoted the importance of a four-minute mile. The trophy is a book, bound in Morocco leather (red), containing a history of the mile since 1868 and signatures of some of the greats in the mile. Gabe signed his name in the book and met one of the family members of the Carr family!

U.S. coaches reading this should do all they can to get their athletes on this squad -- the event looks like it will be in June in 07! This is a very important meeting and as we get closer to 2008 and 2012, watch for the teams from China and GB to get even more determined.

What should US meet directors learn from the international? Great timing, great promotion, seamless organization should be givens in all our meetings. This event will grow, and this writer cannot wait until 2007!

An aside. The event was held in the home of the Berkshire Harriers, the home club of Ian Stewart. I had a drink in the clubhouse, and was in awe of the pictures and stats on the walls. Met Ian's mother, who told me about making meals for Ian, Peter and Mary, all European champions, plus the likes of Dave Bedford decathlete Daley Thompson. All of 85, Ian's mother was one of those parents who are quietly proud of their children and seemed so at home with the sport of athletics and how it had benefited her children.

Special thanks to Ian Stewart for his suggestion of this event and to Norwich Union and adidas for sponsoring such an important competition!

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Adrian Martinez Scholarship Fund

This is one of those really difficult things that one has to do, but as my Mom reminded me last week, live is messy, filled with joy and tears . . .

Angel Martinez, the man who I first met when he managed the Starting Line Sports store in Mountain View, CA, in the late seventies has played a pivotal role in my success in life. While I was working at Runners World, Angel would take time to offer me suggestions on my career and where the business was going. When he was the man at Reebok, he helped keep ads in our publications. I have always considered Angel a mentor and a man of immense creativity and talent. I would hear about his family from Peanut or Boz or Pat Devany, when we were doing our normal check ins.

Mark Bossardet and Peanut Harms called me about Angel and Frankie loosing their son Adrian, whom I had met a couple of times tagging along with his dad. Adrian died about a month ago, full of life and vigor, after playing a soccer game. He was 22-years-old.

Parents are not supposed to bury their kids, as my father told me. It is supposed to be the other way around. I have nothing to say in comfort so I will keep these comments brief. My thoughts and prayers are with Angel and Frankie and Adrians's two brothers and one sister. I know that many of the family friends attended the memorial services, but some are just hearing of the tragedy now.

There is a scholarship fund that was started in Adrian's name that will be given annually in Adrian's honor. Here is the link www.ccscholarshipfund.org/main/funds/#M artinez and we encourage all to donate.

Remember to hug your kids and loved ones each and every day, as those days are precious.

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Watch the Fall issue of American Track & Field, it contains our XC yearbook project with Walt Murphy, a great column by Dick Patrick of USA Today, and an editorial on the EPO saga, by our one and only James Dunaway.

In next two weeks, I will be updating you from the World Cup in Athens and real, -Berlin, so thanks again for reading our newswire and see you on the roads!

***** atf newswire is published by Shooting Star Media, Inc. (www.shootingstarmediainc.com). All rights reserved, copyright 2006. Published for the good of the sport.

Shooting Star Media, Inc. is proudly represented by the Running Network, LLC, www.runningnetwork.com.

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